La Jolla News Nuggets: Sally Ride honored; projects get funds; church expansion; Art & Wine Festival; more
Late astronaut and La Jollan Sally Ride is honored with highway dedication
Sally Ride, an astronaut, UC San Diego professor and co-founder of Sally Ride Science who died in 2012 in La Jolla, was honored June 3 with a portion of state Highway 101 in the west San Fernando Valley dedicated in her name.
State Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills) held a ceremony designating the stretch that runs through Encino, where Ride grew up, as the Dr. Sally Ride Memorial Highway.
In 1983, Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the shuttle Challenger. Two years after her retirement from NASA in 1987, Ride joined the faculty at UCSD as a professor of physics and became director of the California Space Institute. She later established Sally Ride Science under UCSD Extension with her life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, and colleagues Karen Flammer, Terry McEntee and Alann Lopes.
Two La Jolla projects get funds from councilman
As the 2021-22 fiscal year winds down this month, San Diego City Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, doled out the last of his Community Projects, Programs and Services funds to provide seed money for two local projects: one to install a handrail next to The Marine Room restaurant and one to repair a sidewalk at the Camino de la Costa overlook.
CPPS funds are awarded for projects in each council district.
“The Camino de la Costa overlook has a crumbling sidewalk to the point that rebar is exposed,” said Steve Hadley, LaCava’s field representative.
The other project would install a handrail along a shaded and often slippery beach accessway between The Marine Room and a private residence.
Hadley told the La Jolla Parks & Beaches board during its May meeting that LaCava had just over $8,000 left in CPPS funds, which would be divided between the two projects.
Applications will be accepted starting in July for projects, programs and services to be funded with CPPS funds for fiscal 2022-23. Learn more at sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cpps or email Ricky Flahive at rflahive@sandiego.gov.
La Jolla Christian Fellowship may undergo expansion and renovation
Plans to renovate La Jolla Christian Fellowship are in the works, which could include adding almost 2,000 square feet to the church at 627 Genter St. However, the plans are considered to be in a “developmental phase” and subject to fundraising before proceeding.
A permit application was filed with the San Diego Development Services Department to add 1,926 square feet of new construction. That would include adding 680 square feet to both the first and second floors and creating a 566-square-foot third floor.
Work also would include demolishing exterior stairs, adding new exterior access stairs, and interior renovations to the existing two-story building, according to a city notice.
Art & Wine Festival dates announced
The 14th annual La Jolla Art & Wine Festival will return to The Village on Saturday, Oct. 8, and Sunday, Oct. 9. As in past years, visitors can expect art, regional and international wines, craft beer and spirits, a silent auction, live entertainment, a food court, more than 15 pet rescue stations and family-friendly fun.
The festival features more than 160 juried artists from across the United States and Mexico displaying creations in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, jewelry, glass, ceramics, wood, photography and mixed media.
The Geppetto’s Family Art Center will offer free hands-on crafts and interactive art, as well as science experiments, 3-D printing and an opportunity to contribute to a public art project.
Profits will benefit programs such as art, music, science, physical education, technology and onsite medical care at La Jolla’s five public schools. Since its inception, the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival has donated more than $1 million to the schools.
La Jolla Youth Baseball’s ‘Bomb Squad’ captures Memorial Day tournament
After a stellar season as 6-year-olds, the La Jolla Youth Baseball 7U team started this season strong, winning the Gold Bracket in the San Marcos Memorial Day Tournament with an 18-15 victory in the championship game over La Costa.
The team, known as the “Bomb Squad” for its hitting skills, is playing this week in the Beach and Bay Battle tournament in La Jolla, followed by the National Pony section and regional tournaments.
La Jolla’s Wayfarer hosts food scrap drop-off
Food2Soil, a collective of neighborhood food scrap drop-off hubs, recently added a location to serve La Jolla communities at Wayfarer Bread & Pastry at 5525 La Jolla Blvd.
With a network of community hubs for residents, businesses and gardeners, Food2Soil’s composting program provides a way to recycle food waste at drop-off spots. The scraps are then turned into compost, which is used by home gardeners to nourish their soil. Learn more at food2soil.net.
Mainly Mozart’s All-Star Orchestra Festival begins June 10
The annual Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra Festival returns starting Friday, June 10, for a week of outdoor concerts at the Del Mar Surf Cup Sports Park.
This year’s All-Star Orchestra will feature players from the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony and dozens more.
There will be a total of five concerts through Saturday, June 18.
The festival also will feature Mozart’s Marketplace with food and beverage vendors.
Seating is available for $60 to $1,000. For tickets or more information, visit mainlymozart.org.
Philanthropist’s estate donates $1 million for cyber-archaeology program at UCSD
The estate of Norma Kershaw, who died in 2020 at age 95, has donated $1 million to endow a UC San Diego program in cyber-archaeology, a field intersecting archaeology, computer science, engineering and the natural sciences.
Kershaw, an educator and prominent Orange County philanthropist, lecturer and volunteer in the fields of archaeology and cultural studies, made previous gifts to UCSD including the endowment of the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands, currently held by Thomas Levy, a professor in the Department of Anthropology.
UC San Diego collaborates with weight-loss surgical center in Tijuana
Surgeons from UC San Diego Health traveled to Tijuana on June 3 to toast the launch of a new collaboration with a weight-loss surgery center based in the northern part of the border city.
Though horror stories abound involving medical tourists who have gone to Mexico for weight-loss procedures, backers of the new collaboration say medical tourism is here to stay.
“We can either fight it or align to improve patient care on both sides of the border,” said Dr. Santiago Horgan, a professor of clinical surgery at UCSD who was among the doctors spearheading the partnership with the International Institute of Metabolic Medicine.
Weight-loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery or gastric banding, is aimed at helping people struggling with obesity to lose weight by significantly reducing the size of their stomachs.
Cost is usually the main factor for medical tourists deciding to cross the border for procedures, but some travel to Mexico to get procedures they wouldn’t qualify for in the United States.
The IIMM surgical center was accredited by the Joint Commission, a U.S.-based nonprofit that accredits health care organizations and programs around the world. It will follow the guidelines of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, according to Horgan.
The UCSD doctors said they will not have direct oversight over IIMM and that they are not backing the outcomes because the collaboration is not a total clinical partnership. — The San Diego Union-Tribune
Scripps Research receives $4.1 million to advance studies of prion diseases
Sandra Encalada of Scripps Research in La Jolla was awarded $4.1 million from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, for research of how prion diseases kill brain cells.
Some prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob, can arise sporadically or from an inherited mutation in the prion protein. In other cases, prion diseases can be transmissible between animals or — in more rare instances — infect people who eat contaminated meat.
Prion diseases lead to dementia and eventually death, as misfolded prion proteins spread through the brain, killing neurons.
Neurons in the brain typically have central cell bodies with a long tentacle-like protrusion called the axon. Researchers know that axons, responsible for transmitting signals to neighboring cells, are especially vulnerable to neurodegeneration. In prion diseases, an early sign that a cell is affected is the development of characteristic clumps of swelling along the axon, like beads along a string.
“A big question in the field has been, what is so different about the axon than the rest of the neuron that makes this happen, and how can we stop it?” Encalada said.
With the new grant, which will span five years, Encalada and her colleagues plan to move from studies in isolated cells to mice with inherited mutations in the prion protein that make them prone to disease.
— Compiled by La Jolla Light staff ◆
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